Ocean Pines Board continues to study goose problem

Mar. 16, 2014

The Environment and Natural Assets Committee says the resident geese at the South Gate Pond should be removed. The Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors has not yet made a decision on the issue. / Staff photo by Charlene Sharpe

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OCEAN PINES — Ocean Pines officials have made no decision on a recommendation from an advisory committee that they eliminate the resident geese at the South Gate pond.

After hearing from a substantial number of area residents concerned for the welfare of the birds, Pines officials stress that no vote has been made and no formal plans to get rid of the geese have been put into place.

“No decision has been made,” Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson said. “The board has taken no action.”

Thompson said letters and calls from residents who don’t want to see the geese removed have been pouring in since the community’s Environment and Natural Assets committee suggested that the birds be eliminated. After studying the issue for several years, committee members in December recommended the removal of the resident geese. Bob Abele, chairman of the committee, said the goose waste was hurting water quality--even causing a fish kill last year--and that the birds created traffic problems when they crossed Route 589.

Thompson said committee members had worked hard to research the issue.

“This committee is continually looking at our community as a whole and identifying the challenges and environmental conditions that impact the community,” he said. “They do research and come up with potential solutions. They were well-intentioned.”

Although the committee came to the conclusion that the best solution for Ocean Pines would be the elimination of the resident geese, Thompson said neither the board or management had reached a decision on the matter.

“The board realizes the level of concern from residents,” Thompson said. “They’re not ready to make that decision.”

Tom Terry, president of the board, agreed and said OPA management was now looking further into the issue.

“We’re going to do everything we can to avoid going to the euthanasia stage,” Terry said.

Resident Rick Criss said he was pleased that the board was not moving ahead with killing the geese. Criss said he and his wife had written to the board of directors asking them not to kill the birds when they learned from a neighbor’s email that the idea had been put forth.

“They need to do some research,” he said. “Killing them is not going to solve the problem.”

Criss said a golf course he belongs to in Harford County had successfully managed a Canada goose problem by setting off firecrackers to scare the geese.

“After about a year they totally disappeared,” he said, adding that Ocean Pines could do something similar.

Residents John and Esther Taylor said they were pleased that the board was going to research additional alternatives because they did not want to see the birds harmed.

“Any pollution is not from the permanent residents,” John Taylor said. “It’s from the birds that are migrating. Plus there are ducks and seagulls there. They all leave droppings.”

He suggested that the homeowner’s association look into the possibility of getting a machine to clean the area of bird residue.